Trump administration continues to threaten a free press

Wednesday is World Press Freedom Day. President Trump should be marking — indeed, celebrating — the event by using his high office to extol a free and unfettered press as a precondition for a vibrant democracy. It's a message that's necessary for the nation, and the world, to hear from the president of the United States.

But at a campaign-rally style event on Saturday, Trump used the bully pulpit to try to bully the news media, which he said included some "very dishonest people." But it was actually Trump who lied about the "failing New York Times" — subscriptions have surged since the election — claiming the paper apologized because its campaign forecasts were "so bad." In fact, no apology was issued. He also lashed out at MSNBC and CNN, prodding his rowdy crowd to jeer reporters covering the event.

The administration ratcheted up the rhetoric with an even more chilling message the next day, when Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told ABC that the White House had "looked at" potential changes to libel laws, echoing Trump's irresponsible campaign pledge to "open up" laws to make it easier to sue news media organizations. When pressed, Priebus conceded that "how that gets executed, or whether that goes anywhere, is a different story."

Indeed it is. Under current law, public figures must prove that a media organization acted with actual malice by reporting a story they know to be false. Trump and Preibus should read the precedent-setting 1964 U.S. Supreme Court case, New York Times Co. vs. Sullivan.

Because there is no federal libel law, "There are pretty much two routes: Change the First Amendment or completely change the composition of the Supreme Court," Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, told an editorial writer. "What really concerns us here is that the president and senior officials in the administration are even making these kinds of statements, whether they have the ability to carry them out or not, because it sends such a terrible message around the world," Simon said.

And now more than ever, the world needs to hear the U.S. president speak out for media freedoms.

In the introduction to its annual World Press Freedom Index report, Reporters Without Borders wrote that this year's index "reflects a world in which attacks on the media have become commonplace, and strongmen are on the rise. We have reached the age of post-truth, propaganda, and suppression of freedoms — especially in democracies."

The U.S. should be a beacon of media freedom, but the country ranked a pathetic 43rd in the index, just below the African country Burkina Faso. Defending the First Amendment should not be a partisan issue. And to their credit, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle quickly criticized Priebus for his ill-advised comment.

More lawmakers — including every member of Minnesota's congressional delegation — need to do so. And Americans, regardless of party, should reject Trump's destructive attacks on journalists and instead unite behind freedom of the press.